Article 1. California Adolescent Family Life Act Of 1988 of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 106. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 1.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
  (a) Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood is a problem with significant social, medical, educational, and economic consequences to the teen parent and child, her family, and the State of California.
  (b) In an attempt to address the problems of pregnant and parenting adolescents, the Governor, in 1985, created the Adolescent Family Life Demonstration Program, that was designed to bring pregnant and parenting teenagers into programs that provide services of demonstrated cost benefit and effectiveness by organizing networks of local agencies focused on providing services to adolescents and ensuring the most timely and effective utilization of services.
  (c) Independent evaluations indicate that the program has been successful and effective in achieving its intended goals of providing pregnant adolescents with prenatal care, reducing the incidence of low birthweight babies born to adolescent mothers, keeping or reenrolling pregnant and parenting adolescents in school, and reducing the rate of repeat teen pregnancies.

(a) The department may conduct the Adolescent Family Life Program to assure that pregnant adolescents receive comprehensive continuous prenatal care in order to deliver healthy babies; to establish networks within regions to provide to pregnant and parenting teens and their children necessary services including medical care, psychological and nutritional counseling, maternity counseling, adoption counseling, academic and vocational programs, and day care; to provide a continuous case manager to each family unit; and to maintain a data base to measure outcomes of adolescent pregnancies. Specific procedures to operate this program will be defined and carried out through standards and guidelines established by the department.
  (b) No grant funds may be used for essential services to pregnant adolescents or schoolage parents unless the services are not available in the county or are insufficient to meet the basic needs of the population to be served; in that case, funds may be used for essential services only as set forth in the approved grant application. No grant funds may be expended for abortions, abortion referrals, or abortion counseling.

(a) The department, through its program of maternal and child health, shall award contract augmentations to four Adolescent Family Life Programs that meet the requirements of this section and develop plans for a comprehensive coordinated substance abuse prevention, intervention, and counseling program, designed specifically to meet the developmental, social, and educational needs of high-risk pregnant or parenting adolescents. The program shall, to the extent practicable, feasible, and appropriate, leverage existing programs and funding rather than creating new, duplicative programs and services.
  (b) The department shall adopt guidelines and criteria setting forth the terms and conditions upon which the department will offer contract augmentations pursuant to this section. The department also shall disseminate information designed to publicize the availability of contract augmentations for a comprehensive coordinated substance abuse prevention, intervention, and counseling program to high-risk pregnant or parenting adolescents.
  (c) The department shall encourage Adolescent Family Life Programs with small caseloads to develop plans and submit applications that reflect sharing of services among two or more programs.
  (d) At least one program that is awarded a contract augmentation shall be located in northern California, at least one program shall be located in central California, and at least one program shall be located in southern California.
  (e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1994.

A comprehensive coordinated substance abuse prevention, intervention, and counseling program, as used in Section 124185, shall include, but not be limited to, programs that:
  (a) Have demonstrated a capacity for developing interagency cooperative approaches to reduce the incidence of high-risk pregnant or parenting adolescents. This shall include documentation of program development and plans for coordination and collaboration with existing perinatal substance abuse programs in the county, including state pilot projects on perinatal substance abuse established under the direction of the Local Perinatal Substance Abuse Coordinating Council.
  (b) Employ maximum utilization of existing available programs and facilities.
  (c) Have developed goals and objectives for reducing the incidence of high-risk pregnant and parenting adolescents.
  (d) Are culturally and linguistically appropriate to the population being served.
  (e) Include staff development training by substance abuse counselors.
  (f) This section shall become operative on July 1, 1994.

The department shall require reports to be prepared by all programs funded pursuant to this article.

Funding for the purpose of this article shall be provided through funds appropriated to the department through the annual Budget Act.